Hi!

What follows is a brief summary of some points in an article published in
the Kumanichi paper (Feb. 24):

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On (the 23rd of this month (February 2000) two foreign teachers at the
Prefectural University of Kumamoto were told that their employment will end
in March. They were also told that they would have to vacate their
(university owned) apartments. On the same day, the teachers sent a formal
document calling for stable employment and the revocation of the demand to
vacate their apartments.

The battle is expected to continue in the courts, with the teachers filing
suit against the university.

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The entire article (in Japanese) can be read at:

http://www.kumanichi.co.jp/dnews/20000224/kiji1_0000001567.html

A very important point, which doesn't come out as clearly as it should, is
that the university has attempted, on the one hand, to use the two teachers
as full-time (_sennin_) staff, even sending documents to the Ministry of
Education declairing them to be full-time (_sennin_), while, on the other
hand, arguing that they can dismiss the teachers whenever they like because
they are "parttime." I don't think the university should be allowed to
have it both ways. They have declaired the teachers to be _sennin_, they
have had them do _sennin_ work, so they should treat them as _sennin_. (In
Japan, _sennin_ faculty cannot be fired unless they have made some serious
mistake. The university is not claiming that the teachers have done
anything wrong. They are just saying "We don't need you any more.")

This, I think, is the problem in an nutshell. If you want to know more, a
wealth of information is available from the hompages (which I am doing my
best to maintain) of the supporters of the teachers. Here are their
addresses:

http://www.kumagaku.ac.jp/teacher/~masden/mamorukai/english/Ehome.htm (English)
http://www.kumagaku.ac.jp/teacher/~masden/mamorukai/index.html (Japanese)

Also, I think the following summary by Farrell Cleary is very helpful:

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Unlike their Japanese colleagues, all of the _senninkyouin_ foreign
teachers have limited employment terms. Moreover, many of the full-time
(_senninkyouin_) foreign teachers (eight out of thirteen in 1997) had been
employed as Special Part-Time Irregular Foreign Teachers. Employing
full-time teachers on part-time contracts is of course contradictory. [The
Ministry of Education has since confirmed this.] None of the full-time
(senninkyouin) Japanese teachers at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto
are employed in this way. The teachers formed the Kumamoto General Union
and submitted claims to the University and Kumamoto Prefecture in July
1997, asking for an end to the discriminatory practices, and for all the
full-time foreign teachers to be employed in the same way as their
full-time Japanese colleagues. Formal negotiations between the Union and
the Prefectural University began in October 1997, and continued until
broken off by the President of the University, Dr. Teshima Takashi, in
February 1998. The University rejected all demands, repeating only that
their employment practices were 'appropriate' (_tekitou_). The President
said that this was a problem concerning appointment, and that it was a
management matter which could not be the subject of negotiations. The
University then imposed worse contracts on the Special, Part-Time,
lrregular Foreign Teachers in an apparent attempt to crush the Union. The
University and Prefecture refused repeated requests for negotiations and
the union staged a one-day strike in June 1998. Rather than talk, the
University then decided to get get rid of the problem by getting rid of
both the contentious posts and the teachers filling them. All six teachers
working on the one year contracts were given notice that their contracts
would not be renewed at the end of March, 1999. As a result of a strong
campaign of support for the teachers by their support group and union and
fortuitous personnel decisions by Faculty hiring committees, five of the
six were rehired in April 1999, three on three-year foreign staff contracts
and two on the old, one-year contracts. (One had left for work at another
university.) Promises of further talks made during a settlement brokered
by the Regional Labour Commission have borne no fruit and the University
has remained adamant that it reemployed the two teachers for one year, and
one year only. The University has spurned opportunities to re-hire the two
teachers, who are the President and Vice-President respectively of their
union, the Kumamoto General Union.

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Best wishes,

Kirk Masden